NZ expands digital in school curriculum

Faces some of the same criticisms as Australia.

New Zealand plans to incorporate digital technology into its national education curriculum, putting it on a similar path to Australia in trying to equip the next generation of students with ICT skills.

Education Minister Hekia Parata said the addition of digital technology “will ensure that we have an education system that prepares children and young people for a future where digital fluency will be critical for success.”

“The information technology sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in New Zealand, with a demand for skilled graduates,” Parata said.

“This step will support young people to develop skills, confidence and interest in digital technologies and lead them to opportunities across the diverse and growing IT sector.

Parata said that the New Zealand government will “consult with stakeholders, design new curriculum content, and develop achievement objectives across the whole learner pathway” from now through to the end of 2017.

It is envisioned that digital will be “fully integrated into the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa in 2018.”

“The changes … include an expansion of Digital Technologies in the curriculum from senior secondary, where it currently resides, right down to Year 1,” IITP said.

“While schools could teach Digital Technologies at all levels already, the announcement of a more structured approach will support teaching and focus attention in this area.”

However, IITP believed digital should have been carved out “into its own subject learning area”, becoming a subject that students could study in its own right.

It also lamented the lack of “significant additional funding for professional development for teachers” in the government’s announcement, as well as the time it had taken for an announcement of this type to occur.

Some of this criticism may resonate in Australia, which has similarly been on a long path to incorporate digital technology into the national curriculum.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) said the digital curriculum had been under trial in “states and territories, such as South Australia, Victoria and the ACT” in 2015.

“Now that the Australian Curriculum has been fully endorsed, it is over to the individual states, territories and schooling authorities to determine the approach each of them will take to implementation.”

It – and the Government - has, however, faced criticism over the long lead time required to action the curriculum, and the funding provided to equip teachers for its introduction.